Universal bulb holder



May 28, 1968 R. F. HASELL ET AL UNIVERSAL BULB HOLDER Filed May 26, 19652 Sheets-Shee t l FIG-l.

4s 4s 29 I 42 42 1 IE 30 24 32 It LOSED f \28 4 4 WITH LAMP 1 W 3OWlTHOUT LAMP I6 EXHl-XUST HEAD 24 so Fl 2 5 46 23 Q G- 22 as 0 20 I2 3444 INVENTORS Richard F- Husell 26 8 Robert M. Brody .21 BY III ATTORNEYMay 28, 1968 R. FQHASELL ET AL 3 5 v UNIVERSAL BULB HOLDER Filed May 26,1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 52b 24 a Q 8 Q 24 30 2223 g4}: 28

United States Patent M 3,385,592 UNIVERSAL BULB HOLDER Richard F.Hasell, Bloomfield, and Robert M. Brady,

Hazlet, N.J., assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation,Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed May 26, 1965, Ser.No. 458,942 6 Claims. (Cl. 269-287) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Universal'bulb holder for securely retaining in predetermined fixed position awide variety of differently shaped light bulbs. The bulb holdercomprises an annular support member which has a plurality of contactarms fitted inwardly therefrom. Each arm has two projecting portions, anupper and a lower portion that contact the bulb. The lower projectingportion of each arm is initially contacted upon insertion of the bulband this pivots each arm until each other projecting portion alsocontacts the bulb. The bulb is thus securely retained and positionedwithin the holder. The center of gravity of each arm is located so thatupon removal of the bulb the arm pivots back to the bulb receivingoriginal position.

This invention relates to various processing machines for lamps,including mercury vapor lamps and the like, and more particularly, to animproved bulb holder for such machines adaptable to receive differentsizes and configurations of bulbs.

It is necessary for the proper functioning of lampfabricating machinesthat the bulbs be retained in a holder which consistently and withaccuracy places each bulb with its longitudinal axis in true alignmentwith the machine.

Since the bulb is generally placed in this holder by some automaticloading devices, it is also necessary that the holder be capable ofobtaining each alignment automatically and without constant supervisionor added manipulation by an operator.

Heretofore, such bulb holders have comprised two sets of fixed points,each set having three points which contact and hold the bulb inposition. The sets are separated by a fixed vertical distance along thebulb in order to assure that the longitudinal axis of the bulb iscorrectly positioned. In this way, the use of these points assisted inretaining and holding the bulb from movement in a horizontal plane andthe use of two sets of such points, separated along the longitudinallength of the bulb, served to align the lamp in the proper position.

The conventional holder of the prior art, however, required that thefixed points contacting each bulb were accurately adjusted in thisparticular position and understandably could only be set to accommodateone particular size bulb at a time. It therefore necessitated a completeremoval of one bulb holder from the machine and a complete changeover toanother bulb holder whenever it was desired to run a different lamp inthe machine. Such a changeover requires a great deal of down time andessentially stops the production line causing a loss ofvaluable time andoutput.

Heretofore, it has also been most difficult, due to the fragile natureof the glass envelopes of lamps, to effectively maintain a bulb holdercapable of exerting a positive holding force on the bulbs positioned inthe holders. Instead, most present holders generally depend on the mereWeight of the bulbs alone to afford stability and avoid moving ortipping in the holder.

It is the general object of the present invention to avoid and overcomethe foregoing and other difiiculties of and objections to prior artpractices by the provision of an 3,385,592 Patented May 28, 1968improve-d bulb holder, especially for mercury vapor lamp envelopes andthe like, which bulb holder effectively supports the bulb and providesautomatic centering for the bulb to obtain accurate alignment for anyprocessing machine upon which the holder is employed.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improvedbulb holder which provides a positive gripping force exerted on the bulbto prevent tipping or other movement while the bulb is positioned in theholder.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of animproved bulb holder which is capable of accommodating various size andshape bulbs, thereby eliminating the down time previously necessaryduring a production change and thereby save the resultant cost.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference should behad to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals of referenceindicate similar parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary elevational view showing one type of bulbretained in position in an exhaust machine by the bulb holder of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical-sectional view taken along the line IIII of FIG. 1in the direction of the arrows and showing the details of the upperportion of the bulb holder,

FIG. 3 is a reduced sectional-elevational view taken on the lineIII--III in FIG. 2, in the direction of the arrows and showing a sideview of the details of the bulb holder of the present invention andindicating the disposition of the bulb holder when a bulb is placed inits proper position.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views similar to FIG. 3, showing the use of thepresent invention with other alternative envelope shapes,

Although the principles of the present invention are broadly applicableto a holder for supporting lamp envelopes, and especially those ofmercury vapor lamps during the performance of various working operationsperformed on such lamps, the holder of the present invention isparticularly adapted for use in conjunction with a vertical-type exhaustmachine for such lamp envelopes and hence it has been so illustrated andwill be so described.

With specific reference to the form of the invention illustrated in thedrawings, and referring particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the bulb holderis indicated generally by the reference numeral 10.

To provide guide and alignment means for vertical movement in order topromote adaptability to various configuration of lamp envelopes, ashereafter explained in detail, the bulb holder 10 may be afiixed to aguide post 12 by means such as cap screws 14. The guidepost is held in avertical position yet is adjustable vertically by means such as rollers16 mounted to freely move on suitable pins 18 and thereby forcefullyengage two opposite sides of the guidepost 12. These rollers may bemounted by their pins on a suitable receiving structure such as thatshown at 20 to provide support for the guidepost 12.

The bulb holder itself, aside from its mounting, comprises a support 22,shown in an annular shape and held in a generally horizontal position.Pivotably attached to the support 22 are a plurality of arms 24 inspaced relation to each other and adjacent the opening 23 in the support22.

The arms 24 are shown here retained by means such as projections 26 onthe support 22. The projections are grouped in pairs with a sufficientspace therebetween to receive the arms. The arms are pivoted aboutsuitable pins 28, which span the distance between the projections ofeach pair, thereby allowing the arms 24 to pivot freely about the pins.

The arms are so constructed that when free, the weight concentrated onthe outward edge 30 tends to drop downward until some obstruction ismet, such as the periphery of the support 22 as shown in the openwithout lamp dotted position, of FIG. 1. To express this another way,the center of gravity of each arm 24 is located on the opposite side ofthe pivot point 28 from the bulb connecting portions or rollers 34 and44.

The pivoted arms 24 each have a first pro ecting portion, showngenerally at 32, which projects generally inwardly from the support 22.The inwardly projecting first portion 32 makes first contact with a lampenvelope inserted into the opening 23. A convenient means of providingsuch a contact point on this first arm portion 32 is shown by the use ofa roller 34, secured in a bifurcated section of the arm portion 32. Theroller 34 is freely rotatable about a pin 36 which is secured inposition between the bifurcated sections of the arm portion 32 by meanssuch as a fiat head rivet 38, retained by a cotter pin 40.

In this way, a convenient means is provided for the contacting of anyobject desired to be placed in the holder by the roller 34, locatedwithin a bifurcated section and freely rotatable upon such contact.

A second projecting arm portion 42 is also provided on each of the arms,above the first arm portion 32 and disposed outwardly of said firstportion from the center of the opening in the support 22.

A contacting means similar to that on the first arm portion 32 may alsobe employed on the second arm portion 4-2. As shown, the contactingmeans comprises a roller 44, supported within a bifurcated portion ofthe second arm portion 42 by means such as a pin 46 which pin may beheld in place by a fiat head rivet 48, secured by a cotter pin 50. Inthis Way, the contacting means, of the second arm portion 42 operatessimilar to that contacting means provided on the first arm portion 32 inthat the roller 44 will freely rotate upon contact with any objectplaced against it.

The bulb 52 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is diagrammatically shownsupported in FIG. 3. The present universal bulb holder is also adaptedto receive and retain other bulb shapes. In FIG. 4 is shown a modifiedbulb shape 52a which has a relatively sharp radius of curvature at theneck portion thereof. In FIG. 5 is shown another shape of bulb 52b asreceived and retained by the present bulb holder. Because of itsconstruction, the present bulb holder can receive and retain any type ofdifferent bulb shape without changing the adjustment, as production isshifted from one shape to another.

Although it is believed that the foregoing description is sufiicient tomake the operation apparent, the following review of its operation willbe made.

The particular machine, here an exhausting machine, is first set up totake a certain shape of lamp envelope by adjusting the distance from thebulb holder 10 to the machine proper. This distance is shown in FIG. 1as d The desired distance such as d is achieved by raising or loweringthe guidepost 12. When the distance is set, any means, not shown, tolock the guidepost into its position may be utilized. This distance,once set, need not thereafter be changed during the run of one type oflamp and only need be varied when the machine is set up for a differentlamp.

The bulb such as 52 may then be loaded into the bulb holder, either byautomatic means or by hand. The bulb is preshaped by previous operationsand is placed into the holder 10 with its open neck end downward towardthe exhaust machine. The neck surface of the bulb first comes intocontact with the first arm portion 32 of each arm 24 by engaging each ofthe rollers 34. The weight of the bulb forces the first arm portions 32about the pivot pins 28 of each of the arms 24, causing the surface ofeach roller 44 to come in contact with the bulb 52. In this position,the Weight of the bulb upon the first portion 32 of each arm causes asteady force to be exerted on the bulb by the second portion 42 of eacharm 24 and holds the bulb firmly in its position for the desiredoperation. Thus the bulb is securely held in position by six points ofcontact which are circumferentially spaced about the bulb and alsolongitudinally spaced on the bulb.

The removal of the bulb from the bulb holder is also a simple operationand is effected by simply grasping the upper portion of the bulb, eithermechanically or by hand, and lifting it in an upward manner. Thisrelieves the weight from the first portion 32 of each arm 24, thusallowing each arm 24 to pivot by its own weight as the bulb is removed.As the bulb is further removed, each arm 24 will return to its naturalresting place, as shown in the open position of FIG. 1. The bulb holderis, at this point, ready to receive the next bulb of the same typewithout any further alternations or adjustments.

As shown, the bulb holder utilizes three equispaced pivoted arms 24 asthis is most desirable for centering and holding bulbs of a generallyround configuration. For bulbs of other shapes, however, any practicalnumber of arms may be used to achieve the most accurate centering andretention of the lamp.

It may be seen, and is specifically shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 that thebulb holder is adaptable to retain a great variety of lamps and easilyreceives a number of various shapes without the need to make any but asimple adjustment in height to suit each type of lamp envelope.

It will be recognized that the objects of the invention have beenachieved by providing a bulb holder having easy adaptability for varioussize and shape lamp envelopes. The device may be easily adjusted withoutits removal from the machine, thus eliminating costly shutdowns inproduction whenever it is desired to change the line from one particularlamp to another.

While a best embodiment has been illustrated and described in detail, itis to be particularly understood that the invention is not limitedthereto or thereby.

We claim as our invention:

1. A universal bulb holder for securely retaining in predetermined fixedposition any one of a plurality of different bulb sizes, said bulbholder comprising:

(a) a support adapted to be retained in a generally horizontal positionand provided with an opening therethrough which is adapted to have thebulb to be retained inserted therein from the upper side thereof;

(b) at least three bulb-supporting arms pivoted from said support andpositioned about the opening provided through said support;

(c) each of said pivoted bulb-supporting arms having a projecting firstbulb-contacting portion and a projecting second bulb-contacting portion,said second bulb-contacting portions positioned generally above saidfirst bulb-contacting portions, and both of said bulb-contactingportions of each of said arms oriented toward the opening providedthrough said support;

(d) the center of gravity of each of said arms located on the oppositeside of the pivot point of each of said arms from said bulb-contactingportions to position each of said second bulb-contacting portionsrelatively outwardly both with respect to the opening provided in saidsupport and each of said first bulbcontacting portions when no bulb isretained in said bulb holder; and

(e) upon insertion of a bulb into said bulb holder from the upper sidethereof, the lower portions of such inserted bulb first contacting thefirst bulb-contacting portions of each of said arms, and furtherinsertion of such bulb into said bulb holder pivoting each of said armsuntil the second bulb-contacting portions of each of said arms contactsuch inserted bulb; whereby such inserted bulb is securely retained byat least six points of contact which are circumferentially spaced aboutsaid bulb and also longitudinally spaced on said bulb.

2. A bulb holder for securely retaining a bulb in predetermined fixedposition, said bulb holder comprising:

(a) a generally annular-shaped support adapted to be retained in agenerally horizontal position and provided with an opening therethroughwhich is adapted to have the bulb to be retained inserted therein fromthe upper side thereof;

(b) three bulb-supporting arms pivoted from said support andsubstantially equispaced about the opening provided through saidsupport;

(c) each of said pivoted bulb-supporting arms having a projecting firstbulb-contacting portion and a projecting second bulb-contacting portion,each of said second bulb-contacting portions positioned generally abovesaid first bulb-contacting portions, and both of said bulb-contactingportions of each of said arms oriented toward the opening providedthrough said support;

(d) the center of gravity of each of said arms located on the oppositeside of the pivot point of each of said arms from said bulb-contactingportions to position each of said second bulb-contacting portionsrelatively outwardly both with respect to the opening provided in saidsupport and each of said first bulb-contacting portions when no bulb isretained in said bulb holder; and

(e) upon insertion of a bulb into said bulb holder from the upper sidethereof, the lower portions of such inserted bulb contacting the firstbulb-contacting portions of each of said arms, and further insertion ofsuch bulb into said bulb holder pivoting each of said arms until thesecond bulb-contacting portions of each of said arms contact suchinserted bulb; whereby such inserted bulb is securely retained by sixpoints of contact which are circumferentially spaced about said bulb andalso longitudinally spaced on said bulb.

3. The bulb holder as specified in claim 2, wherein the opening providedin said support has a circular configuration.

4. The bulb holder as specified in claim 3, wherein each of said firstbulb-contacting portions and said second bulbcontacting portions of saidarms comprise rollers to minimize frictional contact with the bulb to beretained.

5. A bulb holder comprising a generally horizontal support provided withan opening therethrough, at least three supporting arms fixed to saidsupport and pivoted about spaced points on said support, each of saidarms having a first projecting portion and a second projecting portionboth oriented toward the opening provided in said support, each of saidsecond projecting portions positioned generally above said firstprojecting portions, the center of gravity of each said arm beinglocated with respect to the pivot point of each said arm and saidprojecting portions to cause the second projecting portion to benaturally disposed outwardly with respect to both the first projectingportion and the opening provided in said support, upon insertion of abulb into the opening of said support the bulb first contacting each ofthe first projecting portions of said arms to cause said arms to pivotand bring said second projecting arm portions into contact with saidbulb, and said bulb-contacting projections of said arms cooperativelyholding said bulb within said support.

6. The bulb holder as specified in claim 5, wherein said horizontalsupport is an annular member, and three of said arms are equispacedthereabout.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,626,628 5/1937 Rotherham 269217X FOREIGN PATENTS 506,896 6/1920 France. 733,583 7/1932 France.

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner.

LESTER M. SWINGLE, Examiner.

I. F. MCKEOWN, Assistant Examiner.

